Anatomy study note · Thorax

Joints of the ribs

The synovial joints between the ribs and the thoracic vertebrae (at the heads and tubercles), which let the ribs rise and fall in breathing.

Key points

• Head joint: ribs 2–9 with two vertebrae + intra-articular ligament.
• Ribs 1, 10, 11, 12: one vertebra.
• Tubercle joint with the transverse process; none on ribs 11, 12.
• All synovial; rib neck rotates in breathing.
• Joint: from mesenchyme between bone ends.
• Synovial cavity forms in the middle layer.
• Synovial membrane: type A (phagocytic) + type B (secretory) cells.
• Joint surfaces: hyaline cartilage, no perichondrium.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Action · Histology · Development

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 4, PDF pp. 489–490
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 10, PDF pp. 138, 144
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 117–120, 131

More from the thorax

• Left atrium
• Left coronary artery
• Left ventricle
• Levatores costarum
• Lung
• Lymph nodes of the thoracic wall
• Main and lobar bronchi
• Mediastinal and tracheobronchial lymph nodes
• Mitral valve
• Pulmonary trunk
• Pulmonary valve
• Pulmonary veins

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